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Visiting the solo exhibition, Harness the Sun, by Leyla Majeri, a young artist from Montreal, a colorful and joyful universe comes to us.

It’s an imaginary landscape presenting smiling abstract figures, irregular shapes and mysterious forms, in paper or plastic. The works suggest an ambiguous world relating to the natural forces to the cosmos and to Earth’s cycles.

Leyla is a gardener, co-designing a landscape. She works with simple materials in their basic states.
Her practice developed primarily in printmaking (poster, zines, artist’s books) and expanded into experimental animation film. Her work is a reflexion on the ecological link between nature and imagination.

The nature of her shapes, in their simplicity and subtlety, are not self-evident. As her collaborator Katherine Kline said “The smiling faces, a signature in Leylaâ€s work, are both an expression of the artist, and a gesture toward what lies beyond the artist.”

In her exhibition at Arprim Gallery, Leyla creates a vibrant space where the floating figures dialogue with each other. These figures can be natural and supernatural beings at once.
Despite the seemingly non-objective nature of the work, Leyla Majeri maintained many features inspired by living beings. She models visual elements on naturally occurring patterns or shapes reminiscent of nature and living organisms. As the artist Joan Miró explained in 1948, “for me a form is never something abstract; it is always a sign of something”.

Leyla Majeri’s landscape appear in continuous transformation, as if figures took a new shapes, or energies or other properties converted into different forms.
The installation surprises the wandering viewer looking for details or connections attempting to decipher a final meaning. Two eyes, a smile and a question displayed on the floor: “Why do I get so sensitive?”.
Color spots on the wall or writings on the floor remind the viewer that a party or a mysterious phenomena has just happened or could happen. No one answers. The ambiguity is left there, hanging.

Eleonora Milner

Opening last week, the biennial – currently in its 14^th edition – features 29 artists (emerging and established) from 11 countries who will exhibit at 16 sites across Montreal over the month long event. Four artists will present their work in Belgo Building galleries. Conceptual artist and curator, Joan Fontcuberta, conceived of this yearâ€s theme, The Post-Photographic Condition. Each of the exhibits and the related discussions fit within one of the biennialâ€s three core conceptual frameworks, also conceived by Fontcuberta.

The first framework sees an exploration of the idea that weâ€re witnessing the establishment of a new visual order, which is changing the way images are understood and used. Images have now become immaterial, viewed solely as digital objects, and more easily shared than ever; the landscape is characterized by a massive increase in the number and the availability of all kinds of images. Their ubiquitous nature now means that photographs are not valued in the way they once were. Their ease of use, and ease of transmission, has also made communicating via images a day-to-day experience for most people.

Fontcuberta calls the second conceptual idea Reality Reloaded, with obvious reference to The Matrix. In the same way Neo plugged into the matrix, we are now able to engage with a parallel reality in the online world. Although the Internet can be said to act as a mirror of the real world, this mirror and our perception of the reflection is not always accurate. The line between reality and illusion, lies and truth, can be impossible to ascertain. Fontcuberta poses the questions: is what we see on our screens just an interface between subject and object, or is the online image its own reality – a documentation of the world in image form, and ultimately a new form of reality?

In the third framework, Reviewing the Subject, there is a dialogue discussing the way digital culture is changing our construction of society, and the fashioning of our individual identities. The “selfie” has created a new genre of imagery. It has had a huge effect on how people present their own image to the world – itâ€s the first time in history people have had complete and utter control over how their own personas are perceived by others. Even though, people’s reactions to these images are not always predictable.

The biennial also features a number of events, including: the presentation of the Dazibao Prize, artists†talks, a portfolio review session, workshops, and guided tours. MPM will conclude with a three-day conference, “À partir dâ€aujourdâ€hui … Reconsidering Photography,” in which nine invited scholars will give papers and form panels to discuss the theme and its associated issues. The biennial runs until October 11, 2015.

The Belgo Building will host four artists as part of the biennial:

Centre des Arts Actuels Skols
Christina Battle, “The people in this picture are standing on all that remained of a handsome residence.”

Galerie B-312
Liam Maloney, “Texting Syria”

Galerie Joyce Yahouda
Paul Wong, “Multiverse”

SBC Galerie dâ€Art Contemporain
Isabelle Le Minh, “Tous Décavés”

Artist Ripley Whitesideâ€s exhibit A Peaceable Kingdom – on display at Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain – is a series depicting the various species that will survive to cohabitate alongside humans in the future. The result is confronting. The works carry that intrinsic mix of melancholy and wry humour that is reserved for negative consequences that are seemingly inevitable.

The works are very much inspired by Montreal and its natural and unnatural environments. Each illustration is named after different quarters of the city like Notre-Dame-de-Grâce, Côte-des-Neiges, and Pierrefonds. The selected animals can be found on the island of Montreal – either in the wild, in pet stores, on Kijiji, or at the Biodome. Whiteside arranged the creatures in a sort of constructed reality. Seeing them positioned against various somewhat bleak backgrounds, one has the impression these unlikely companions have been thrown together under unnecessary and arbitrary circumstances.

Whiteside said in his artist statement, “I am interested in what should or should not be considered natural, and in how absurd this line of questioning can become.”

“These works were born in the complicated corners of natureâ€s meanings, in the places where we attempt to insinuate ourselves within the natural or insist on our separateness from it; where we take what is natural and in so transform it into artifice; where we fear the natural and unnatural alike, and where we temper those fears with stories,” said Whiteside.

Visually, he uses a series of techniques to bring the animals onto a more confronting plane. In many cases, the animals are depicted life-size. Though more imposing than this is the manner in which each animal meets the viewerâ€s gaze. Historically, the direct or returned gaze has held great meaning in Western art. For a long time the direct gaze, particularly the direct gaze of women, was something artists avoided. It was thought to displease viewers, male viewers, who preferred subjects to be looking away, making their bodies more visually accessible. Eye contact is thought to bring a more confrontational aspect to the character in question. Berger in his now seminal book, “Ways of Seeing” (1972), discusses how Manetâ€s Olympia was the first example of the female nude defiantly returning the viewerâ€s gaze. In her description of Whitesideâ€s work, Concordia Universityâ€s Julia Skelley refers to the returned gaze as signifying consciousness, agency, interiority, and potentially indicative of a soul. And itâ€s true that in the absence of words, a direct gaze is used to establish a connection and can be thought to force a sense of accountability into the consciousness of the viewer.

Itâ€s also worthy of note that in nature wild animals rarely make eye contact for very long, if at all. Someone viewing an animal may meet eyes with one for an instant, but there is rarely sustained connection. Eye contact is often the first point in the initiation of a relationship between two individuals, the beginning of establishing contact. This facet of Whitesideâ€s work acts to greatly humanize his animals.

The environmental aspect of the artistâ€s series was inspired by Stephen M. Meyerâ€s The End of the Wild, a book in which the author outlines Earth’s biodiversity crisis. Meyer cites a current extinction rate of 3,000 species per year, and notes that if this continues half of all species will be extinct in the next 100 years. He argues that the surviving animals will be the “weedy” ones (pests and parasites), those that can survive alongside the environmental degradation caused by humans. Itâ€s a tragic and disturbing idea that due to the actions of one species, ours, only the “weeds” of the animal world will survive.

Another strong influence for A Peaceable Kingdom is the work of Edward Hicks (c. 1825-49) and his series of the same name. Hicks’ work was firstly an expression of his Quaker ideals. He painted 61 iterations on the same idea – all inspired by a bible passage, Isaiah 11:6-8. Itâ€s a passage depicting all animals, predators and prey, living together in harmony. In a practical sense, Hicks conveys this uniformity, or peace, through the use of colours within a restricted tonal range. This is a technique also employed by Whiteside. The significant difference between the two artists is that Whitesideâ€s work doesnâ€t contain the religious aspect that was very much a focal point for Hicks. Whiteside paints from a more animalist perspective.

In the gallery, the works  – made from natural, homemade, and manufactured inks – are exhibited unframed, and pinned to the wall. There were minimal alterations made to the original state of the works. They appear almost as if they have just been removed from the artistâ€s studio. The strength of their message doesnâ€t need any embellishment.

A Peaceable Kingdom is exhibiting at Pierre-François Ouellette Art Contemporain from July 18 – August 15, 2015.

Visiting Andrée-Anne Dupuis-Bourretâ€s recent exhibit at Circa Art Actuel was like taking a step into the artistâ€s inner landscape. An immersive, sensory experience of protruding shapes and suspended reality, the environment altered regular visual and spatial perceptions.

Moving around the installation was similar to walking through a forest, or entering new, unaccustomed surroundings for the first time. Stopping to investigate something that could be a plant, considering the view from each angle, experiencing your body in relation to the objects and organisms around you. As Dupuis-Bourret put it, her work is, “A path for the body and the senses to experience.”

The forms that inhabited the space were created using silk screened and twisted sheets of paper, which were covered with lines and pixelated patterns of different tonal qualities. The sculptures began their life as 2D objects, pieces of paper, before the artist transformed them into their eventual 3D formations, which came to resemble organic matter.

An interesting element of Dupuis-Bourretâ€s installation was its juxtaposition with its outdoor environment. The galleryâ€s open window let in the sounds from Sainte-Catherine, and allowed a glimpse of dreary office buildings across the street. The contrast was marked, and further highlighted the surreal quality of the work. In her artistâ€s statement, Dupuis-Bourret says that she is generally interested in the threshold between the real and imagined, the interior and exterior, the outside world and inner thought.

Documenting these processes, including the creation and assembly of her works, is an important part of Dupuis-Bourretâ€s practice. She posts photos of her installations on her research blog, Le Cahier Virtuel. These actions multiply the existence of her pieces, which become both in-gallery installations and online photographic records. The incorporation of the online consumption environment is interesting and something many artists are realizing is increasingly important in todayâ€s Internet-centric world. Many audiences will only ever see her work online, which in some ways makes this digital format equally important to the physical manifestation.

Andrée-Anne Dupuis-Bourret works across: collaborative and evolving site-specific installations, paper sculptures, images, photographic documentation and artistâ€s books. She has exhibited at galleries in: Canada, USA, Mexico, Holland, Italy, Israel, and Australia. In 2011, she was awarded the Governor General of Canadaâ€s gold medal for her Masterâ€s degree project. She is currently completing her PhD in interdisciplinary approaches using print media at UQAM. She also teaches printmaking and is the author of two blogs: Le Cahier Virtuel, and Le Territoire des Sens. For a preview of her upcoming work, take a look at her recent blog about her summer atelier.

Circa art actuel
Andrée-Anne DUPUIS-BOURRET | Francis ARGUIN
May 16 – July 11, 2015
www.circa-art.com

What role are we playing in these exchanges? Why do many encounters remain static, identical, leaving no space for thought or connection? Days can play out like a formula repeatedly entered into a spreadsheet – CTRL+C, CTRL+V, CTRL+C, CTRL+V.

Les Territories, is currently presenting the work of two emerging artists, Maria Meinild and Émilie Franceschin, who both explore life and societal norms as purely a performance. By examining the daily behavioral patterns that are embedded in our notion of normalcy, the artists allow the questioning of these ideas.

Maria Meinildâ€s video, Curtain, explores life as a staged presentation of our expectations and preconceived ideas of what life is, and what it should be. Incorporating elements from both theatre and film, and expressed as a dialogue with slight variations and repetitions, she forces the viewer to question the theatrics of daily life, and how necessary the performance is to maintain oneâ€s identity.

Mariaâ€s short video features two main characters, at times reading from a script and at times speaking naturally. The female character repeats the phrase, “It takes solid preparation to provide spontaneity,” at different speeds and intonations – like sheâ€s practising a line. Someone is introduced into the video as a “stranger” in the same way characters can be announced in theatre. The woman repeatedly corrects herself like sheâ€s made a mistake on a line and is restarting the scene. Artificial visual creations scatter the set; there are oranges, skewered with cocktail umbrellas and arranged on a table. At Les Territories the video is projected onto a round surface that feels almost like youâ€re looking through a telescope or a pair of binoculars.

Émilie Franceschinâ€s series, Secrets, is presented in an adjacent room to Mariaâ€s work, and is more tactile and tangible in its exhibition. It includes an assortment of objects, images and a video, which all culminated in a performance on Saturday June 20. The act called, Iâ€ll Be Back Soon, saw the artist invite attendees to step into her journeys to understand her repeated struggles, real and imagined.

The objects created in advance of the performance are on display at Les Territoires for the duration of the exhibition. Her photographs, drawings and artifacts interact to reveal the work behind her performance, during the conception and before the execution. These objects offered audience members a new way of approaching the performance, which ultimately must be experienced. Viewers entered the act having seen these tangible materials and with a deeper understanding of the history and motivations that have driven the artistâ€s work. Émilie explores the body, its visceral quality, and intimate relationships with its surroundings. The performance, like a secret, is something that canâ€t be spoken – it must be experienced for it to become real and tangible.

The interactions between these two artists in the Les Territoires space is a fascinating one in that both approach this idea of life as performance in particularly unique, and moving, ways. Émilieâ€s idea draws its power from her very personal selection of artifacts, and her moving live performance. Mariaâ€s approach is impactful by forcing a sense of detachment and unreality between the characters in her video. Additionally, her piece is scripted and produced in a way that presents many layers for audience interpretation.

Both exhibits are on display at Les Territoires in the Belgo Building until July 4, 2015.

Maria Meinild

Maria completed an MFA from the Royal Danish Academy in Copenhagen; she has also studied at the Academy of Fine Arts in Vienna. Working primarily in video, but also extending to photo, collage, and installation, she has exhibited at New Jörg and Kunstverein Das Weisse Haus in Vienna, at Fauna in Copenhagen, and at ReMap4 in Athens. She was born in Karlshamn, Sweden, and lives and works between Copenhagen and Vienna.

Émilie Franceschin

Émilie is a graduate of the Toulouse School of Fine Arts, and has presented at performance festivals in France, Italy, England, Belgium and Germany. She has also participated in residencies at Cité Internationale des Arts, Paris, and in Dusseldorf. Recently she participated in the European Museums Night at the Calbet Museum in France. She lives and works in Toulouse.